Column: Glen Parsons, Eye on the Arts

Boooo! With all the excitement of Halloween in the air, it’s tough to look ahead at November’s arts events, but there are many for us to enjoy! Beginning on Nov. 1, Art on Broadway, the art shop at the Albert Lea Art Center, will host an open house for “Art of the Holidays.” Items featured will be for sale through the Christmas season. A work of art makes a very special gift!

On Nov. 1 the Albert Lea High School bands will hold a concert at 7 p.m. at the ALHS auditorium. On Nov. 4 the ALHS choirs and orchestra will perform a concert at Grace Lutheran Church with performances at 6 and 8 p.m. Tickets for all ALHS concerts are $7 for adults and $5 for students, available at the door. Also a family music concert pass for $35 will be available and is good for all regular band, choir and orchestra concerts for the whole year!

The Albert Lea Community Band will perform at Northbridge Mall at 1 p.m. on Nov. 12. The band will also perform a Christmas concert the first part of December at Northbridge Mall. Look for details and dates for that concert on the Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.albertleatourism.org.

On Nov. 17, Lilah Aas will be the featured speaker for the Art Center Lecture Series. Aas will speak on “The Art of the Thank You Note.” Plan on attending this fun and informative talk on a fading practice in today’s high-tech world.

Also opening on Nov. 17 and running on the 18th and 19th, will be the ALHS production of “Bye, Bye, Birdie” at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium. Adult prices are $7 and students are $5. This delightful look back at the ’50s rock ’n’ roll era follows Conrad Birdie (modeled after Elvis himself!) as he is about to be drafted into the Army. It’s filled with high energy and fun! Audiences will love it!

The Albert Lea Cantori will present their annual Christmas Concert at 3 p.m. on Nov. 20 at the United Methodist Church of Albert Lea. This concert is a wonderful start to the Advent and Christmas season. This year the Cantori will sing music of Herbert Howells, Praetorius, di Lasso, Healey Willan and Gustov Holst.

They will also sing favorites such as “Behold the Marvel of this Night,” “Carol of the Drum,” “What Child,” “The First Noel” and “Love Came Down at Christmas.” There will also be several Celtic arrangements sung, including “Silent Night.” Guest instrumentalists include Todd Peterson, Rebecca Crisinger, Becky Kelly, Wendy Walker, Suzanne Mauer, Mark Dundas, Marilyn Chafee and Gail Thurnau. The Cantori is under the direction of Eileen Nelson Ness and is celebrating its 40th anniversary year! It’s a wonderful way to begin the Christmas season!

The Albert Lea Art Center will be featuring the “Festival of Trees” which opens on Nov. 25 running through the end of December. The open house is from 1 to 3 p.m. on Nov. 27. Community groups wishing to decorate a tree should call the Art Center at 373-5665 with that information. Trees will be available for decoration Nov. 15-19.

 

‘A Christmas Carol’

I should also take this time to tell you about ACT’s production of “A Christmas Carol” which opens Dec. 1 and runs 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10 at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center. Show times are all 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. matinee on Dec. 4.

It’s the same script we’ve used three previous times, and you’d think that by now I would know all of Scrooge’s lines, wouldn’t you?

I’ll be playing Scrooge for the fourth time, but I’m also co-directing the show with my friend Gordy Handeland. We had 80 people audition! Most of them were 12 and under, but that was a huge turnout that pleased us beyond belief and made casting it very difficult. We have cast almost 50 people!

I’d like to list the cast members here so you can get tickets ahead of time to come and see them!

Here goes: Glen Parsons, Ben Deines, Sophie and Sam Ehrhardt, Matt Stoneking, Aimee, Grace and Abby Chalmers, Sheri and Travis Nemec, Jay Paul, Tim Engstrom, Samantha Klukow, Brian Mattson, Ethan Lunning, Emily Miller, Mariah and Logan Howe, Tyler Vandenhouvel, Jason Howland, Rebekah Sousa, Preston Smith, Maddie Willey, Dane Brownlow, Jill and Ryan Nelson, Charlie Fleek, Ann and Grace Van Brocklin, Al Jorgensen, Nancy Lahs, Les Anderson, Jody Ellertson, Kristan Dye, Norrine Jensen,Kris Bartley, Jayna Finseth, Evy Christensen, Natalie Runden, Pam Schmidt, Karen Szymanowski, McKinzey Christian, Rhiannon Farr, Cassidy Daniel, Carson McGivern, Carine Rofshus, Aidan Beckmann, Katherine Sime and Khira Hacker.

Tickets are available by calling 507-377-4371 or by going online at actonbroadway.com.

Who says there’s nothing to do in Albert Lea?

 

Glen Parsons is a retired educator in the Albert Lea School District and an actor and director for the Albert Lea Community Theatre.